Problem statement - Covid-19

With nearly 550,000 people infected, almost 25,000 dead, and hundreds of millions in
lockdown across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. But
what do we know about COVID-19 and what can we do to fight this pandemic? Having these
concerns has led my group to the discovery of building a robot to help patients recover from
the virus.

The virus enters through your mouth or nose and goes into the body by passing through the
hairs that should push it away. Inside the virus, genetic material contains information to make
copies of itself. This is why it is very contagious. It has a protein shell that is a hard protective
ensurer as it enters the body, an envelope that allows the virus to merge with your cells outer
membrane and protein spikes that use itself as a key to take over your cell and internal
machinery. As it enters, one spike of the virus connects to a receptor on your cell membrane
like a key in a lock. This allows it to enter your healthy cell. The spikes are in vesicles that
merges with the outer layer. It gathers beneath the membrane and a new virus has been
created causing it to multiply. For a person to develop pneumonia, the sacs called alveoli and
bronchioles are inflamed and fluids are built up making it hard to breathe. The immune system
usually attacks the germs that make it pass your mucus in the airways. However, if it is not
strong enough it can become overwhelmed and therefore the virus makes your body worse.
Some symptoms are coughing, headaches, fevers, chest pain and muscle pains.

The purpose for us creating this robot is not only to help the patients directly but also the
frontline workers as well. We believe that face to face interactions would likely to cause the
virus to spread rapidly. Therefore our robot would help relay vital information between
patients and doctors remotely and at any time of the day. So doctors can monitor clinical
parameters of the patients, for example, their heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation
and blood pressure. Although the robot is used to promote better distancing and safer
conditions, it still needs to be sanitized after use. We came up with the idea to use ultraviolet
lights which disinfects the wards even in hard to reach areas as it kills the bacteria. We provided
a screen that the patients may use to communicate in case of any other items they need. For
example, if they need to sanitize their hands, a simple touch on the screen can alert the robot
that sanitizer is needed.

The tray of the robot gives the patient a lending hand on delivering vital supplies. This includes
the necessary medication and essential foods. The tray can be easily moved to higher places if it
is not accessible to the patient. It can also detach so that the claw on the other side can be
used. This claw is necessary for handing water bottles, providing tissues to the patients and
assisting persons with asthma or respiratory issues by squeezing the air in and out of the
ventilator to help with breathing. Using our robot gives access to communicate the patients
with families through mobile phones on the screen. This can make them feel more comfortable
as they are hospitalized.
We believe with the aid of our robot it will have an impact and change towards the
environment and how the world views this pandemic. We hope that this is not only beneficial
to persons hospitalized but can help other diseases that may be a threat in future.